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Bad attitude towards "school work" and hard to get a response for oral narration from youn
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Hi all…my son is almost 6 and we have very slowly started some school work. Delightful Reading, Handwriting… I will wait till he is 6 to start requiring oral narration. But the few times that I have asked what he remembers about a story after reading it, he is resistant to respond with anything. So, I am nervous about requiring it when he turns 6. Should I just move on if he doesn’t have a response? He already has a bad attitude sometimes when I get out our “school work”. Any suggestions?
Honestly, if he already has a bad attitude about school work at age 5 then the school work you’ve been requiring is probably too much/too soon. I would look at stopping school work for at least the rest of the summer and starting fresh when is is actually 6. When you start fresh keep a close eye on time, only have lessons last a few minutes. When things drag on (even 15 minutes is probably too long for a 5 year old usually!) they start to resist. What could have been a ‘delightful’ 5-10 minutes of something interesting is now dreaded.
For oral narration itself, begin listening for when he tells you about things he’s interested in. THOSE are oral narration. Use these natural opportunities to invite him to tell you more, to be a good listener who seems interested. Then when you’re hoping he’ll tell you about school work it will hopefully spill over. Sometimes with my younger ones I will ask things like:
- What was your favorite part in the book today?
- Who is your favorite in this story?
- What did you think when ______ did that?
- Let’s draw something from the book today (this counts as narration, don’t tell them that). Then have them ‘Tell me about your picture’.
I’m sure others will have good suggestions for you too!
Excellent advice from Tristan above. In short, I would not even ask him for a narration while you’re in this possibly negative stage. I’d be afraid he’d just be adding narration to the list of what is “negative” in his mind!
I would keep reading aloud – as much as possible/as much as you have the time – to help your son “fall in love” with books. Characters, settings, description of scenery, being able to imagine the people in the books as though they are right there in the room with him…these are all things that come with time, but it happens more quickly and more fully the MORE you read, or the more time he spends with books. As Tristan mentioned above, this doesn’t mean long readings. It just means often. Once ‘falling in love with books’ happens, he will likely WANT to share what’s on his mind about the story, the characters, etc. I would wait for this to happen (him naturally wanting to chat about book stuff with you) before I firmly required an oral narration. In the meatime, be assured that every time he shares his thoughts with you or tells you about something meaningful to him, this is most certainly working and breaking-in the skills he needs for oral narration….as long as you are doing the listening and letting him run loose to do the talking.
Another point to keep in mind: The age of 6 doesn’t have to be carved in stone. I have three sons; each took off and began to fly on narration at a slightly different time. One was definitely a full month or two past his 6th birthday, and another son 6.5. My third son enjoyed narrations (and did amazingly well) when he was at his 6th birthday, then went through a dry spell (during which time he began to excel in art and pencil sketching, but was hopeless at oral narrations) and now, at just turned 7, he’s doing amazingly well on oral narrations once again. I think the best advice is often said here on the forum (a quote from Sonya, I think): teach the child, not the curriculum. For some kids, 6 is the perfect age. For others, it will be 6.5 or even 7. I am a firm believer (having learned the hard way) that “pushing” or requiring something before they are ready can really make you take 5 steps backwards before you get to go forwards again.
Hope this helps!
Blessings, Angie
Thanks for posting this mommybird. I appreciate Tristan and Angie’s responses. I am dealing with a similar situation with my 7.5 heard old daughter that attended public school for K and 1st. She wants to do school but out of a workbook. I am being met with a lot of negativity and attitude. I’m trying to stay positive that this will work and turn out to be the best decision we ever made.
Thanks for all the advice. We are going to stop and start back in the Fall. But he still has a bad attitude sometimes whenever I require him to do ANYTHING. So days he acts like he is sick of our routine and other days he thrives on routine. And I was doing really short lessons (prob 5 or 10 min at most) and the work was not hard for him to do. He is just a fighter when I require him to do anything!!
I’m chiming in on the reading aloud. ITA with Tristan & Angelina. It is important to keep on reading. My dd had a real dislike for reading. Her sour attitude colored many days. She just plain disliked school & especially reading on her own! She liked books, but only for the pictures & to listen to as I read them. I had purchased many horse themed books (mostly by Marguerite Henry) because she LOVES anything horses! They sat on the shelf for a couple of years. Since I require a chapter a day (not much to ask for a 5th grader, in my mind), she has voluntarily picked up these books & now enjoys reading. She offers to read now, and quite often, will choose to read before doing anything else. The change is astounding! But again, I let her choose the book she is reading. It just has to be one from the list of books I’ve chosen on her reading level. I hope this helps. I just wanted to tell you what worked with my dd, so that you can be encouraged. Don’t give up — he will come around!
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